Auchel lies on the western rim of the coalfield, where the black seams run out against the chalk hills of the Artois, and Terril 14 rises above the town and its neighbour Marles-les-Mines as a long, dark ridge softened by birch and grass. The heap is built of shale and waste rock brought up from the pits of the old company that worked this corner of the basin, and like many of the terrils, it has been left to nature since mining ended. Its slopes are now home to plants that love warm, dry ground, and the summit offers a view over the rooftops of the mining towns toward the green hills to the west. It belongs to the vast mining landscape listed by UNESCO in 2012.
Auchel and Marles were classic mining towns, built almost entirely around the pits, with rows of company housing, churches, schools and football grounds. Football, in fact, is part of the story: the mining towns of the north produced generations of footballers, and the passion for RC Lens, the club of the coalfield, runs deep across the region. The miners' culture also included pigeon racing, brass bands, and the ducasse, the local fair held each year in every town.
The riding gets more interesting here than in the flatter east of the basin. West of Auchel, the land rises into the Artois hills, with the valley of the Clarence and the forests around Olhain offering winding roads, gentle climbs and real corners. The roads toward Saint-Pol-sur-Ternoise and the upper valleys are quiet and pleasant, running through fields, woods and small villages with flint and brick churches. Surfaces are generally decent, but farm traffic and mud are common, and cobbles appear in town centres. The light in the Artois is lovely in late afternoon, when the low sun picks out the folds of the hills.
Auchel is a town of over ten thousand people with fuel, bakeries, cafés and supermarkets, and Marles-les-Mines and Lillers are close by. Grab a sandwich américain, a baguette stuffed with a burger and frites, if you want to eat like a local, or a coffee and a pastry if you prefer something lighter. Take a short walk up the terril if a path is open, look out over the towns and the hills, and then head west into the Artois for some of the best riding in the region.